Story Highlights

Roper Construction was scheduled to finalize the grade around the bridge with compaction testing and begin paving the roadway this week as the deadline nears for wrapping up the replacement First Bridge on Main Road in Ruidoso.

With lodge and cabin owners eagerly awaiting the arrival of tourists with the Memorial Day weekend, transit over the bridge into Upper Canyon is essential for their businesses.

In the sixteenth weekly update on the progress of the replacement, Village spokesman Kerry Gladden wrote that on April 27, Roper Construction began cleaning up the site and backfilling the gabion baskets with top soil. Kimo Construction finished the construction of gabion baskets and was preparing to de-mobilize.

On Monday, April 30, Roper Construction continued to grade and clean-up the site, and they repositioned the large boulders to the southeast side of the river. The crew also has begun moving some of the big equipment off the site, and they brought in the recycling machine to start milling the roadway. They also leveled out the river bottom on both the east and west sides

On May 1, Roper Construction continued to mill up asphalt on the roadway, while also cleaning up the site by removing boulders and over-burden soil

On May 2, Roper Construction completed the milling process and began working sub-grade compactions. Zia Engineering and Roper Constructionofficials discussed final alignment of the roadway, and Zia engineering will provide Roper Construction with information for grading.

On May 3, Roper Construction installed the water meter and began working the existing material to bring the road up to final grade.